Author Topic: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt  (Read 2648 times)

Dancin'Dog

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Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« on: February 23, 2020, 02:24:34 PM »
I'd never been one to buy canned dog food, normally they get dry & table scraps when they're lucky, but they old now.  They're 16 years old & the male has bad teeth and can't eat dry food anymore.  (I should probably put them down, but that's easier said than done.)  Anyway, for the past few months I've been giving Charming canned food & mixing a little in Princess's dry for flavor.  A 6-pack of the canned food is about $10, which isn't an even a premium brand.  Last week I ran out of cans & had some cheap pork for Costco that I'd smoked a few days earlier, so I chopped it up and mixed it with a bit of cooked rice.  They obviously were thrilled.
So, today I was running low on dog food, again.  I looked at the local weekly grocery sale flyers & see one has Boston Butts for .99 cents per lb.  I went and picked up four of them and tossed them in the smoker.  I'm thinking this will be our "new" dog food.  I'm saving money & the dogs are dancing in delight.  It's a win/win. 


Woof, woof, woof.  ;)

BikeFanatic

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2020, 03:23:42 PM »
My spoiled dogs love pork! I use the instant pot to cook the cheap cuts, slow cook, I throw in some carrots and or sweet potato for vitamins and they love IT!

SunnyDays

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2020, 03:04:05 PM »
Meat and rice only is not a balanced diet for dogs, especially older ones.  They need a wider variety of macro nutrients and also micro nutrients.  I’m sure they do love it, but it’s not good for them long term.  I used to cook for my dog and she got a large variety of meats, vegetables and some starches plus a multi vitamin every day.  You might make existing health conditions worse over the long term or even give them new ones on that diet.  (I know you said they’re old and if they’re suffering then maybe you should talk to the vet about euthanasia, but if you’re not at that point, then try to keep them as healthy as possible.  They depend on you.)

ohsnap

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2020, 04:08:29 PM »
One thing I'd be worried about with pork butt is the fat content.  We had a vet tell us to be careful about table scraps with too much fat - it wasn't that it would make the dog fat, it was something about the dog being unable to process all the fat.  So I'd remove a lot of the visible fat before feeding pork butt to Fido.

Also in considering what SunnyDays said about a balanced dog diet...I'd use this delicious pork & rice as less of a full-time diet and more of a stretcher for the dog food. And also add sweet potato or carrot which always seem to be in homemade dog-food recipes.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2020, 08:45:38 PM »
I wouldn't feed this to a young healthy dog too often, because like you all have mentioned that it's not a complete diet & it's high in fat.  I trimmed the butts before loading them into the smoker & they lost a lot of fat while cooking.  I cooked about 30 lbs (it was on sale) which took about 8 hours to reach 190f degrees.  There was a lot of grease to clean from the smoker afterwards.  I chopped it up and packed it into gallon bags and froze most of it. 


I'm mainly just feeding it to the old guy with bad teeth & gums.  He'd lost a lot of weight & getting real meat the past few days has perked him up quite a bit.  I'll roast some veggies for him & mix them in.  I know his days are numbered, but he doesn't wince from his mouth pain yet so I'll keep feeding him until he lets me know he's done.  He's been a good dog.   





SunnyDays

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2020, 10:38:41 AM »
Sounds like a reasonable plan.  It's a good idea to mash or shred the veggies, since dogs have a much shorter GI tract than humans, and big chunks will not be digested well, so lots of nutrients go to waste.  I used to run veggies through the cuisinart, but any kind of fine chopping will do.

Hope he feels better and stays with you a long while.

Queen Frugal

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2020, 02:26:08 PM »
Real food is suppose to be best... for people, but the dog food industry tells us heavily processed dog food is best for dogs. That has never made sense to me.

So a few months back, I started feeding my dog the BARF diet, which is basically raw meat with some raw bones, a little organ meat, and a little fruit/vegetables. https://perfectlyrawsome.com/raw-feeding-knowledgebase/biologically-appropriate-raw-food-barf-adult-dogs/ Lately I have been buying whole chickens when they are .99 cent/lb, and cut up the whole thing and feed it to my dog (along with a little organ meat and pureed veggies), portion it out in containers, freeze it all, and thaw as needed.  My dog has never been so excited to eat.  She loves it.

And it is so much cheaper than canned dog food. So far I don't feel like she is missing anything and, in fact, I think she's getting a lot more real food.

I think your plan is a wonderful one GreenEggs!

Peach

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2020, 09:49:46 AM »
I soften dry dog food in water for my dog who has only 2 teeth left.  To soften, some brands only need room temperature water while others need it warm.  I make a large bowlful, refrigerate, and take out as needed.  Usually it takes close to an hour to totally soften the kibble. 

Be careful giving pork to dogs because it has been known to cause pancreatitis.  That's very painful for the dog, very serious, and is costly to treat.

firstmatedavy

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2020, 10:14:07 AM »
Brown rice (instead of white) and veggie peels might be other cheap sources of nutrition.

partgypsy

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2020, 07:20:10 AM »
Pork is not as healthy as chicken to give to a dog. It should be a treat not a daily food. Both the high fat, risk of pancreatitis, plus smoking anything is bad (carcinogens). That said, it depends on how close your dog is to the end of their days. Most of the dogs we had towards the end we gave them human food (we are talking more like last month of life not last years) because they had lost their appetite to eat dog food, and we felt any kind of nutrition was better than none. Plus at that point, shortening their life wasn't really an issue! All the dogs loved roasted or boiled chicken with a little of drippings on carrot or sweet potato. Green beans too (cooked till soft).
« Last Edit: March 02, 2020, 10:54:45 AM by partgypsy »

Firehazard

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Re: Canned dog food vs .99 cent Boston Butt
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2020, 06:46:18 PM »
One thing no one has mentioned is calcium.  Get some calcium carbonate powder (food grade) and add .5 tsp per pound of meat.  Throw some cooked carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans in there too.

I make a fairly complex recipe for my dogs and they do great on it, but literally no one I have given the recipe to has actually been willing to go to the trouble, so I won't bother posting it!   

If you went with the BARF diet that Queen Frugal posted, I'd recommend grinding it all up, since your dog doesn't have the teeth for it.  With that diet, no added calcium is needed, since the dog eats the bones along with the meat.